Pot group calls for DEA chief firing

A major marijuana advocacy group is calling on the president to fire a Drug Enforcement Administration chief who criticized his recent remarks on the dangers of marijuana being no worse than the risks of alcohol.

Marijuana Policy Project, one of the largest pro-marijuana policy organizations, announced Monday that it had launched a Change.org petition calling for the firing of DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart. As of noon Monday, the petition had more than 1,500 signatures.

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The petition is a reaction to a report that Leonhart slammed the president in a recent speech to the nation’s sheriffs. According to the Boston Herald, Leonhart heavily criticized President Barack Obama’s comments in a recent interview that marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol and received a standing ovation.

A spokeswoman for the DEA told The Huffington Post in a statement that the remarks were not directed at Obama but rather at efforts to legalize marijuana, which Obama did not advocate for.

“With regards to the Herald story, I think it’s important to clarify that the administrator’s remarks were not at against the president, as the story portrays, but continued messages that the DEA is not in support of legalization — and neither is the administration,” spokeswoman Dawn Deardon said.

MPP said Monday that Leonhart’s position was out of sync with the administration and grounds for her to be fired.

“The DEA administrator’s continued refusal to recognize marijuana’s relative safety compared to alcohol and other drugs flies in the face of the president’s commitment to prioritizing science over ideology and politics,” said MPP Director of Federal Policies Dan Riffle. “She is neglecting the basic obligations of her job and fundamentally undermining her employer’s mission. This would be grounds for termination in the private sector, and the consequences for Ms. Leonhart should be no different.”